Research into the growing emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, could be greatly assisted by the discovery of bacteria from deep within Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico. The previously unknown strains of bacteria, which have never before been exposed to humans, were found to possess a naturally occurring resistance to multiple types of antibiotics that doctors currently use to treat patients. This means that new forms of bacteria may have been exposed to undiscovered antibiotics which, in turn could be used against currently untreatable infections in the future.